CAMPAIGNERS are demanding an end to “empty words” from politicians ahead of a debate on recognising the state of Palestine and ending arms exports to Israel.
Pro-Palestine activists have said they want to see concrete steps for Palestine to be recognised as a state with rights and protections and have insisted UK and Scottish Government officials “cannot claim to be working towards justice” while actively funding Israeli arms companies and supplying arms to Israel.
The call comes ahead of a parliamentary debate on Monday following two petitions signed by almost 400,000 people calling for the UK “to recognise the state of Palestine immediately” and “to immediately revoke all licences for arms exports to Israel”.
Gerry Coutts, executive member of Scottish Friends of Palestine, said it was time for UK politicians to recognise the “inalienable right” for Palestine to exist through “actions”.
He said: “During one of the worst humanitarian crises we have ever seen, where in the space of just a few months almost 45,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israel - in what Amnesty International states is a genocide - it’s time for Scottish and UK politicians to recognise the inalienable right for Palestine and Palestinians to exist, not just through words but actions.
“Year on year, Israel has illegally taken control of more and more Palestinian land. The Palestinians are squeezed into smaller and smaller pockets of land surrounded by Israeli colonisers and checkpoints, in ever expanding illegal settlements.
“Our politicians can no longer get away with treating Palestine as an exception when it comes to international law.”
External Affairs Secretary Angus Robertson (above) has defended Scottish Government grants to arms firms supplying Israel, saying that they are not "direct funding for the manufacture of weapons".
Amnesty called on the Scottish Government to end its grants to arms firms including BAE Systems, Raytheon Systems, and Leonardo – which manufactures parts for the F-35 fighter jets Israel uses in Gaza.
In September, the Labour UK Government suspended around 30 arms licences following a review of Israel’s compliance with international humanitarian law in the ongoing conflict.
But an exemption was made for some licences related to components of F-35 fighter jets, and around 330 others continued unaltered, which concerned items such as training and air defence equipment.
Campaigners also say governments speaking about a two-state solution for decades with no meaningful action has merely helped to “kick the can down the road” and maintain the status quo of Israel as an illegal occupying force in Palestine.
Coutts added: “Politicians are keen to talk about a two-state solution, with the implication that there will be a state of Palestine. For almost eight decades nothing has materialised and the immense suffering and loss of life for Palestinians have only increased.
“Are we to believe that occupied Gaza which has been completely destroyed is to be magically transformed into part of a viable Palestinian state?
“Israel has shown it will not change course on its own. Change will only come from outside pressure, from recognising Palestine as a state and, like other illegal occupations and past apartheid regimes, through sanctions until Israel abides by international law.”
Last week, Palestinian Ambassador to the UK, Husam Zomlot, said the UK was one of the few nations in the world in a position to help bring peace to Palestine, insisting the country could be “instrumental” in bringing “mass murder and mass destruction” to an end.
He told MPs on the Foreign Affairs Committee that the Palestinian people are facing an attempt at “total erasure” and called on the UK to apply pressure to Israel by implementing a comprehensive arms embargo and formal recognition of the state of Palestine.
Over a century ago, Scotland’s Lord Balfour paved the way for the creation of Israel under the Balfour Declaration with the British government announcing its support for the establishment of a "national home for the Jewish people" in Palestine. At the time, Jews constituted less than 10% of the population.
The pledge is generally viewed as one of the main catalysts of the Nakba – the ethnic cleansing of Palestine in 1948 – and the conflict that ensued with the Zionist state of Israel.
Hugh Humphries, secretary of Scottish Friends of Palestine, added: “Last week the Palestinian Ambassador to the UK, Husam Zomlot, said 'Britain is one of a few nations in the world' which can help to bring peace to Palestine.
"Britain is not only able to do this, it also has a moral and historic responsibility to right a wrong against Palestinians.
“The first step is through immediate and meaningful actions for recognising Palestine as a state with rights and protections. The second is through the immediate halt of arms sales to Israel, an illegal occupation which now stands accused of genocide.
“The UN and Amnesty International have stated that our governments in Scotland and Westminster are at a clear risk of falling foul of international law by supplying arms support to Israel. Our governments must now take heed.”
